Holidaymakers are increasingly utilizing mobile homes, caravans, campervans and similar recreational vehicles as a means for taking travelling holidays. This form of holiday is especially popular with retirees and older couples as it provides for a flexible and cost efficient way of taking a holiday.
Mobile homes and the like generally comprise a front cab section for driving the vehicle and a rear accommodation compartment comprising living, eating and sleeping areas. The rear compartment is accessed from outside the vehicle through a solid and secure outer door, usually on the side or back of the vehicle, and a less secure inner door in the form of a screen.
When the mobile home is, for example, at a camping location, the solid outer door is often left open and the screen is kept closed. This facilitates ventilation of the vehicle, allows the ingress of light, offers a view through the doorway if the mobile home is parked in a scenic location and prevents the ingress of insects. Screens known in the art are either lockable or non-lockable and may be unlocked from the inside or from the outside by means of a key.
In the case of the non-lockable screen, no security is provided for valuables and/or people within the mobile home by the screen door alone. Hence, it is not possible to leave the outer door open and only the screen closed while the occupants are away from the mobile home or asleep at night without the contents of the vehicle being susceptible to theft or the safety of the occupants being threatened by intruders.
Known lockable screens for campervans and mobile homes offer only limited levels of security against intruders because the mesh of conventional screens is easily cut. Furthermore, the screen door can be kicked away from the supporting frame relatively easily and hence offers little security against a determined intruder.
Lockable screens known in the art for mobile homes and the like can also represent a danger to the occupants of the vehicle in the event of an emergency such as a fire. For example, consider a fire that has broken out within the mobile home and the occupants have left the security screen locked. If the occupants have not left the key in the inner lock there is a real danger that they may become trapped within the campervan and perish.
Also, in dangerous situations, people often tend to act in an irrational manner and the process of having to unlock the screen from the inside may be too complicated for someone who is hysterical and frightened. This is especially the case for older people and therefore this problem is particularly relevant to the mobile home and campervan industry.